Cars with Tutus
by Profcrazedfan
Summary: This is the story of sixteen year old Lucy Hart. Her life, her family, her dreams...and her descent into madness. Warning: This depicts violence and heavy implication of child abuse
1. Happily Ever After

"You need to eat something, Lucille."

The sixteen year old groaned and rolled her eyes, before placing her backpack on the floor beside the table. Lucy propped her feet up against the kitchen table as soon as she pulled a chair out for herself, smacking her gum loudly. Without having to turn around, Aunt Janelle sighed, while stirring the pot of stew on the stove. "And keep your feet off the table. Honestly, what am I going to do with you!?"

This prompted another groan from the teenager before she did as she was told. However, this did not stop her from silently flipping off her guardian while her back was turned.

The elderly woman turned after pouring some soup into a small bowl and placed it in front of the niece she practically raised. She watched as the teenager reluctantly started to drink from the bowl, careful to make sure that the few strands of blonde hair she had left didn't fall into the soup.

After a few minutes of studying the girl with discernment, Janelle pulled up a seat at the dinner table for herself and cleared her throat. "The school called me today. Is there something that you want to tell me, Lucy?"

Not skipping a beat, the teen's fiery green eyes stared down her aunt's worn down brown ones. "What's the point? You already know."

It was Janelle's turn to sigh before she started to rant. "You've been skipping school again. Do I need to call the therapist again?"

The now empty soup bowl slammed down against the table as the teen growled. "No, you don't need to call the fucking therapist again. _Christ_, I am going to fail anyway, so I might as well just not bother with school and work at the shop full time. 'S all the future a bastard like me 's got anyway." She muttered the last sentence, almost to herself.

That earned her a slap on the cheek.

"_Lucille Anne Hart_, you know full well you are more than just a bastard. You may not have had proper parents but you know goddamn well that your uncle (may God rest his soul) and I did the best I could by you. Don't you even_ think_ about saying such things again. And watch your language."

The sixty year old woman frowned as her niece just stood there, not even phased by the slap. It barely felt like a tickle to the teen anyway.

"Are you done, or are you going to lecture me about trying more in school?"

The woman cast her eyes to the ground and shook her head in frustration. "Just go to your room. You're grounded for the rest of the month. And you aren't going to work at the garage during that time either."

Janelle's only response was the sound of stomps up the wooden stairs and a slam of a door.

* * *

><p>All Lucy had to do was wait for the house to get quiet before she could open her bedroom window. The sound of crickets chirping and a light breeze had beckoned the free spirit to climb to the nearest tree branch. She only stumbled once before she made it to the ground, and started to run to the end of the suburban street, where she knew her boyfriend would be waiting for her.<p>

The teen on the motorcycle was an average built eighteen year old brunette ,covered in tattoos that screamed "God Bless America" with a cigarette in his mouth to boot. Lucy rolled her eyes in an affectionate manner and took the cigarette from his mouth and stomped it out with her leather boot, in spite of his objections.

"You know this shit will kill you, _Puddin_'?"

Her beau shook his head and chuckled a little before pulling her into a rough kiss. When he pulled back, he answered, "You know we all die one day, right Luce? At least this way I get to choose which way I go to the grave."

She gave him a non-committal hum to his answer and climbed on the back of the bike. "C'mon Mike, Baby...please just take me somewhere so I don't have to think."

Mike started the bike and began to rev his hog towards one of their favorite spots.

"School called your Aunt again? You should probably get a G.E.D. and call it quits. At least that way you'd be done with all the bullshit. Maybe get that fancy therapist in on the idea." He yelled over the sounds of the motorcycle engine and the whipping wind.

Having fully well heard him, but didn't want to talk about it, she simply feigned hearing problems. "What?"

"Don't be such a bitch, Luce. I'm just lookin' out for ya." He yelled.

"I can look after myself!" She yelled back. "Your sweet ass is just a side bonus."

"Hey, not until you're legal." he teased in response before stopping at the local taco restaurant.

She got off the bike and stuck her tongue out ,stud and all for him to see. This earned her a laugh and a big bear hug from Mike.

As she walked in the restaurant, she watched as he started to order some food for them both. There was no argument, he was always the one that paid. It was one of the things that she learned when they had started dating. Despite her aunt's disapproval of his age, she could tell that he was one of the good guys. More than what she deserved anyway.

"_And they say chivalry is dead."_ She thought to herself.

She walked to the cleanest table that they could find at this time of night, and sat down with disposable cup tops, straws, and hot sauce packets waiting for him when he got there.

"Hey, Puddin'? Tell me again what happens when we run away together?" she asked, feeling whimsical as he unwrapped his own taco with extra meat.

He smiled and took a large bite. After he swallowed, he answered. "On your eighteenth birthday, I'm gonna steal you away from that ivory tower, all two stories of it, and we are gonna go somewhere far away. From all the bullshit about therapists and high school, to someplace big, like Gotham maybe." He took another bite as a way of pausing for dramatic effect. "Then you and me, baby. We are gonna open up a little garage where you are gonna fix all the bikes and cars, and I can do all the books. We will live happily ever after, in a crappy little apartment, just you and me and the rats."

She giggled a little at his vision of their future and sighed wistfully. "Something's gotta change soon. I feel some sort of quiet desperation just staying in this _town_."

He nearly dropped his taco. "Wait...I thought you were failing all those classes."

She rolled her eyes. "It ain't because I'm not smart or anything like that. It's just boring to do all of that busy work."

The small chime attached to the door of the restaurant rang as a group of customers opened the door, and walked to the counter. One of them kept his hand in his pocket the entire time before another one whispered to the cashier, who opened up the register.

Lucy narrowed her eyes into slits and started to stand before Mike pushed her back. "Stay put." he murmured to his girlfriend before he walked over to the huddled group at the register. Lucy was strongly against whatever Mike was about to do, but the way he looked at her brooked no argument.

"Excuse me, gentlemen. I know the tacos are shitty here, but I didn't think you needed a refund _before _you ate some of their food-"

"You shut the fuck up, man. You stay cool, and we won't have to shoot up the place." One of the men answered with a low growl. The one with his hand in his pocket had shifted it slightly. The cocky rider chuckled and said, "Do you really want to do this? There's no reason to get violent over some chump change..."

There was the sound of a click. "I said shut the fuck up, man!" The first robber repeated. Upon closer inspection Mike could tell that his eyes were bloodshot.

"This isn't worth it, whatever it is you're doing this for, this isn't worth it, and you know it, just put the gun down, and walk away, like this never even happened. Can you do that?"

After what seemed like an eternity of silence and stares from both Mike and the robbers, the hand in his pocket seemed to drop into a more relaxed state.

Before Lucy or the cashier could let out a sigh of relief, another one of the robbers quickly grabbed the gun from his accomplice before yelling, "FUCK THIS ALREADY! I WANT MY FIX!"

Three shots were fired.

The cashier screamed and scrambled away from the register to dart to the manager's office where she could call the police.

Lucy didn't scream. Not yet.

Instead she ran to the aid of the man she loved, and watched him bleed out quickly.

The robbers quickly took the tray from the inside of the register before trying to flee while the police had not arrived.

Lucy slapped her boyfriend's face, desperately trying to wake him up. "Mike! FUCK! WAKE UP GODDAMMIT." There was no answer, only more blood pooling onto her hands and jacket.

_"...Puddin'?"_

They killed him. The only person in the world that truly made her happy. They took him. All for less than a hundred dollars.

Lucy clenched her fists, as the men were still scrambling out of the parking lot.

Then...

Everything...

Went...

** Black...**


	2. Do you Suffer from Long-term Memory Loss

This wasn't the first time this happened. A vision of blood everywhere. A body cold on the ground in front of her feet with no memory of how or why the life that was in it became extinguished. The first time it happened was when she was no more than eight years old.

Her aunt had been asleep in her bed, as they were all supposed to be at this time of night, and she...she had been downstairs in the basement again. Her aunt had insisted that it had been an accident, that the little girl didn't mean to knock over the end table and break the vase. But as soon as her alcoholic husband had threatened to raise a hand against her too...the young girl was left defenseless.

The only source of light for the child was a sliver that peered from the bottom of the basement door. Were it not for that sliver, the child would have most certainly (at least within the confines of her own judgment) had nothing at all to hope for. Complete darkness would surely have been the worst thing to happen to the young girl.

She missed her mommy. She hadn't seen her mommy since she was five, but she still needed her now.

The child trembled when she heard the sounds of heavy footfalls towards the basement door. Was 'Auntie' or 'Sir' going to let her out now? She tried to be good, she didn't even make a peep.

But no one left the door open. Nor did they turn on the light.

Instead, her senses were invaded by the smell of whiskey and the sound of incoherent mumblings from 'Sir'. His fingers gripped the child's fragile wrist, and his other hand started to tug at the edges of her nightgown.

Lucy was beyond terrified at this point. All she wanted to do was disappear, to pretend that none of it was happening, and while her uncle continued to invade her personal space, she continued to wish for her own disappearance.

"_I want to go away! Make me go away! Please let me disappear!"_

__

The child's wish was granted.

She

started

to

slip...

"Miss, could you tell me what happened?"

The sound of the police officer brought the teen out of the confines of her past, and into the present. He looked concerned for the well being of the shaken young lady in front of him, not knowing what much else he could do besides wrapping a blanket around the poor witness.

"You don't have to answer right away. Are you ok?"

The young woman let out a ghost of a strangled cry before nodding, clutching the now cold body of the man she loved. She wanted him back. More than anything, she wanted him back.

"I'm fine."

They both knew it was a lie. She was broken inside and out. But she would be damned if she was going to spill her guts out to the pig, who looked like he was about to faint at the sight of the blood she was currently covered in.

"Can you tell me what you can remember?"

That was a tricky question.

"I...I don't know. We were just eating, then those robbers-"

_"Hold on just a minute!"_

Janelle rushed over to the side of her niece, before giving the officer an unpleasant stare. "You don't have to say anything to them! She'll give you her statement at the station with our lawyer present. Can't you tell the poor thing is all shook up? Really now, you ought to be ashamed of yourself,sir."

"Ma'am, I don't think it is a good idea to postpone her statement, a violent crime happened here tonight, and the sooner we get this witness statement, the sooner we can catch the criminal who murdered all these peo-"

"-Don't you try and argue with me, it is our Constitutional right."

The officer didn't bother to correct the guardian. It was a traumatic night for everyone, himself included. "Fine, both of you and your lawyer can come to the station tomorrow morning and we can file an official report there. However, I urge you two to file as soon as possible. Every detail is crucial in a case like this."

The blood soaked teen was escorted to the car by her guardian, and it wasn't until she sat down in the back seat that she realized she was emotionally and physically exhausted.

The old woman looked at her charge through the rear-view mirror. "Do you want me to schedule an appointment?"

Lucy didn't have it in her to respond her words, or even fight the suggestion, and answered in a limp nod.

For the rest of the night and for the next two weeks, the teen was on autopilot. She barely touched her breakfast, and barely responded to her aunt's nagging or the pain from her eyes and throat, that had become raw with tears and screams.

Janelle had tried to tread carefully around the young woman, like a soldier trying to navigate safely though a mine field. She tried to shove that nasty feeling in the pit of her stomach, but knew deep down that there was no denying what had happened to her niece.

She had another episode.

The old woman's mind wandered back to her crystal clear memory of the first one several years back. Poor Lucy was practically a baby then.

Janelle had awoken to an empty bed, one morning. It wasn't such an uncommon occurrence, but what was so odd about that particular morning was the fact that his side of the bed was just as undone as hers. He had gotten up in the middle of the night and never came back to bed. She scanned his end table and noted a large empty bottle of hard liquor.

In some alarm, she all but ran down the stairs without her robe, and followed the trial of spilled liquor and bumped furniture to the basement, where she couldn't believe what she had seen.

Her husband was now a shambled corpse at the bottom of the stairwell, the body was littered in bruises, and his neck had been almost snapped entirely in half. And her niece, Lucille, was standing over the corpse, with barely any scratch on her.

The child's disposition had completely changed from the sweet, shy, yet clumsy child, that she knew to that of an eerily calm, yet hardened adult. It was like looking at an entirely different person altogether.

Janelle tried to break the tension in the room and rising bile by clearing her throat. "Lucy...sweetie?"

The child stared into her caregiver's eyes and furrowed her brow in a stern manner. "Lucy's not awake."

As soon as the woman tried to garner the courage to ask who she _was _speaking to, the child's disposition changed again, back to the girl that she was familiar she knew. The child started to shake and huddle against the corner of the basement wall. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes,. "What happened, Auntie? Why isn't he breathing?"

Janelle knew then, that it wasn't the time to press further for now. She hugged the little girl against her chest and rocked the shaken girl to sleep. It wasn't the child's fault. That was all she had to keep telling herself.

Her husband was in a better place now, one where he would be free from the Devil's nectar. All she had to tell the neighbors that he stumbled down the stairs.


	3. Broken yet Beautiful Mind

" I can't remember."

The therapist in front of Lucy stopped writing on his notepad as soon as he heard her speak for the first time in the last two sessions. He pressed his glasses further up his nose before giving the young lady sitting in front of him a look of disbelief.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, 'I can't remember', or are you deaf and stupid?" she answered, in a spiteful tone. She had always hated that asshole who was sitting behind that fancy desk. He never really cared about any of her problems, it wasn't like he was the sort of person that really listened to anyone's problems. From all the times she had paid a visit in his office, he had made it abundantly clear he just wanted the money his aunt's insurance policy could give him, like all of the other jackasses with P.H.D's.

He let out an exhausted sigh. It was like this at every session. She was a non-compliant patient at best and at worst, the biggest pain in the ass teenager he had ever met. Were it not for the fact he was getting paid for his time to be wasted, he would have put an end to these sessions a long time ago.

"This would be much easier on both your psyche and my job performance if you actually started telling the truth during these appointments. But I suppose talking at all is a start..."

Lucy took her feet off the doctors desk, making a point to sweep his nameplate off the desk before giving him a death glare to end all death glares.

"I'm telling the truth,"she insisted in a low, strained voice. "I don't remember what happened from the time between Mike getting shot, and the police coming. There was just blood when I came to." She finished her statement, trying to not give away the shake that was dangerously creeping in her voice.

The doctor wrote down what she said on a separate sheet of paper, before looking at her with a small look of concern.

"How are you handling the loss?" He asked.

She almost bought it. She almost started to think that he cared, that he was willing to listen.

_** "Don't buy it.**_"

The sound of the voice that she had just heard in her head was new. She couldn't place where she heard it before, and by all rights it should have terrified her. It probably would have terrified any other sane person. But Lucy had long decided in her mind that she was not a sane person.

** "**_**He doesn't give a shit. Just walk away and you're safe."**_

Lucy retrained her expression from somewhat vulnerable back to a neutral state before asking, "Can I go now? I am pretty sure you have other patients."

Another sigh escaped the doctor before he nodded and dismissed her from his office.

After a conversation between her aunt and her therapist and the normally awkward car ride that followed, Lucy headed up to her room and waited for her aunt to leave the house for errands. She wanted to get to the bottom of that other voice that she just heard in her head.

She sat down at the edge of her bed, staring at her reflection in the mirror that was propped against her closet door. "Alright... I know I am going crazy here, but I can wait all day if I have to. Talk to me."

She was only greeted by the sound of silence.

A growl escaped the teen as she stood up and walked toward the mirror. "I know you are in there, you talked to me back at the doctors office! Now talk to me damn you!" She pressed the palm of her hand against the door of the closet and stared deeply into the eyes of her reflection.

They were no longer green, but hazel. Her face seemed to change slightly, as if she had become another person entirely. Her brow was more furrowed, and a sickening grin appeared on the expression of her reflection.

The voice laughed.

"_**Do you really want to mess with shit you have no idea about?"**_

__The teen blinked and her eyes turned green again as her face muscles went slack.

"You're already in my head. Don't you think since you are sharing space in there that I should at least learn who my roomie is?"

_**"Fair point. I bet you have a lot of questions."**_

"Hell yes, I have questions!" She shouted before punching the closet door and pacing her bedroom. "Who the fuck are you? How did you get in there? Why are you here? And when are you fucking leaving?!"

_**"Slow your roll, darling. This is going to take a while if we are going to get to know each other properly."**_

__Lucy groaned and flopped back on her bed. "Ok, then talk. Explain everything."

The voice cleared her throat before she began. "_**In the order of the questions asked thus far, I am Leila. I am here because you called for m-"**_

__"Bullshit! If I summoned a demon I would have remembered it." Lucy answered with a huff.

_**"If you would stop interrupting,I can explain it to you better, sweetheart. Now clam up those pretty lips of yours and listen."**_

__Lucy rolled her eyes at the other entity in her head and simply waited.

"_**There is a reason that you don't remember me, that you haven't remembered me or the day you summoned me into the world. You were far too young to keep that memory. I hid it away to keep you safe."**_

__The teen sat up and curled her knees close to her chest. This was getting scarier than normal. "You wanted to keep me safe...from my own memories? Why should I believe you? You could be lying to me."

"_**I could be, but you know deep inside your heart that it isn't true. I can't lie to you, sugar, because you and I, we're part of each other. We share more than just a **_**body**_**, we share the same fractured and beautiful**_** mind**_**." **_

__The voice paused to let the words sink into the teenager's head, which was starting to become the epicenter of a large migraine. Lucy fluttered her eyes shut, and could have almost swore that she felt the gentle caress of fingertips against her cheeks.

"_**I need you, just as much as you need me."**_ Leila finished with a soothing hum. _**"I can't tell you everything, not yet. You are still so wounded by the loss of your sweet puddin'. Just know that I am here to protect you during those rough spots."**_

__Lucy felt tears sting at the edge of her eyes as she let go of her knees and laid back against the bed. "I...I don't think-"

_**"Shh...Darling. You can let your guard down in front of me. We can talk more in the morning. **_

Too exhausted to fight what was inside of her head, she complied and fell asleep.

–

_"No...please. Don't!"_

_ Leila licked her lips and pressed the knife to the throat of what looked like a terrified teenage boy. "That's funny. You didn't take no for an answer before you killed my puddin'." A small line of blood trickled down the drug addicts throat. _

_ Visibly panicked, the addict pleaded, "What can I do? I can get you some good shit. No charge promise!"_

_ Leila cruelly laughed and said," That's not the itch I need to scratch." _

_ The victim struggled in response to the terrifying laugh but the woman put it to a stop as soon as she forced his head against the brick wall that she had originally had him up against. As soon as he stopped struggling the man let out a strangled whine as warm liquid pooled at his feet._

_ "Really? Pissing yourself?" Leila said with impatience. "Fuck this. I can't believe someone as ball-less as you managed to kill Mike." _

_ With little ceremony she logged the knife in his throat._

_ The body that she had loosened her grip on fell to the ground before she dropped the knife and walked back inside the restaurant. The cops were coming soon. _


	4. Monsters are We

AN:TW: This is the part of the fic where it earns its 'M' Rating for violence and mentions of child abuse, pedophilia and the murder of said pedophile. If this bothers you in any way shape or form dear reader, then steer clear of this chapter, possibly the entire fic.

"It was you, wasn't it? You murdered all those people at the restaurant that night." Lucy accused the voice in her head.

The teenager was still clad in her pajamas staring at the mirror with an intimidating glare,due to the fact that she had gotten out of the bed at four in the morning. She stopped to rub her eyes for a moment before they seemed to change under the moonlight.

_**"I didn't think you would remember so soon. You're welcome."**_

__"Why in the hell should I thank you? Did you even stop to think that the police would come after me when you did all of this?" She asked, before she began to pace the floor.

_**"You fret too much. You looked far too innocent for them to suspect you. Also, it does help that it technically wasn't you that killed everyone else that night..."**_

__"That isn't helping!" She yelled far too loudly for this time in the morning. She stopped pacing as soon as she heard a gentle knock at her bedroom door.

"Lucy?"

Shit. It was her aunt.

Lucy sighed in exasperation at herself before opening the door and answering in a quiet voice, "Yes, Auntie?"

"Did you have another nightmare, dear?" the older woman asked before letting out a yawn.

The teen sat down on the edge of her bed before looking down. "Don't worry about me. Why don't you go back to sleep or something."

Janelle sighed and gently walked over to where her niece was and sat beside her. There was the sound of uncomfortable silence that lasted for at least five minutes or so before the older woman gently rubbed a hand up and down Lucy's back, in a comforting fashion. Lucy didn't know how to react as she looked up to study her aunt's worn face.

The worried woman took a deep breath before saying,"You know, I didn't approve of your relationship with that boy, mostly because he was older than you were, but I know you cared about him deeply. You must be going through so much pain right now. I wish I could help."

The young girl didn't know what to say. She looked away from her guardian and simply leaned against her embrace. " Auntie, he...he cared about me too. He always treated me right...never raised a hand or anything." She tried to wipe away the tears that had seemed to suddenly appear on her cheeks.

The elderly woman hummed in acknowledgment before rocking her gently.

"We even planned our lives together. We were going to move to Gotham, open a garage there."She babbled, unaware of the grimace that fell on her aunt's face.

Janelle gently let go of her embrace and murmured, "Why don't you let me tuck you in?"

Lucy shook her head and murmured, "I'm not a baby. I can tuck myself in."

The older woman sighed and nodded before watching her niece wriggle underneath the covers of her bed. As soon as the teenager crawled in her bed, her aunt took a moment to hold her hand as the girl was drifting off.

The woman whispered a small prayer, "Please, Lord, if you have any mercy whatsoever, keep her out of Gotham, and keep her safe." She then stood, and quietly walked out the door.

As soon as the door had been shut, Lucy opened her eyes. Why on Earth was her aunt's first reaction to their unusual bonding time was to keep her out of Gotham City? She tried to come up with a range of answers but was interrupted by the strongest voice in her head.

_**"You know she's hiding something, don't you."**_

__Lucy nodded before murmuring softly. "There is probably a reason behind it. She never really talked about my mom or dad." She sat up and curled her legs to her chest "Neither did- Wait a minute. Did you kill him too?"

_**"You're going to have to be more specific than that."**_

"My uncle... Did you kill him too?" she asked, trying to mask the tremble in her voice.

_**"**__**I will only answer the question if you answer this. What do you remember about him?"**_

She wiped more tears from her eyes before whispering through her teeth, "That's not fair. You know I don't want to think about where he stuffed me away, how he..._touched me."_

_**"**__**You should remember, if only so you could know where your real allies are in this crap sack world."**_

Lucy took in a shaky breath before she tried to recall further about what life was like before her uncle died. "He was always giving me shit, my aunt too." She gasped as though she was trying to take in more air. "God, how could she just stand there and watch half the time, and pretend it never happened after?"

_**"**__**Because she is just as broken as you are. She can't help herself, much less help you. No. She simply did with you as she did with her husband, clean up the mess, and pretend it never happened."**_

There was a long measure of silence before Lucy could stop her shaking and crying. After she dried her last tear she stood and walked directly in front of the mirror. Her hands were balled into fists before she stared coldly at her reflection"You never answered my question. Did you kill him that night?"

The reflection stared back just as coldly. _**"You're serious, aren't you?"**_ The image in the mirror extended her hand. _**"It's better if I show you."**_

The terrified child in the basement was trying to wiggle away from the grip that Sir had on her arm, as the drunken man attempted to rip off her clothing. This wasn't right. She didn't want him to touch her, she wanted her mommy!

The drunken man mumbled something incoherent under his breath before he let go of his grip and slapped her across the room before continuing to advance towards her. The little girl continued to pray to disappear from all of it, the dark basement, the pain, and Sir.

Suddenly, she wasn't there anymore.

Her body seemed to shut down entirely, unresponsive to the outside world.

Her uncle looked curious before continuing to step toward her, snapping his fingers. "Brat? Ya in there?" He stumbled toward the corner of the basement, where the girl was before shaking her shoulder. "Wake up you little shit!"

A little hand with an unusually strong grip on his wrist was his response.

The man stumbled back a little as he tried to shake off the child's grip on his wrist, only to feel his wrist bend backward in a loud sickening _snap. _He yelped in pain before he fell backward onto the stairs that lead to the door, the only source of light in the room. "What the fuck is this?!" He growled before he heard the sounds of a sickening laughter that was coming from the child.

The girl with an unusual amount of strength suddenly sat on his chest, using all of her weight to press him down against the stair case. All that he could see from the small light that came from the door was a wicked, unnatural grin. Too shocked to fight back, all he could do was stare in horror. Whatever this was, it was not the girl that he locked in the basement. "You...you're a monster!" He said in alarm as he felt small, but very strong hands ready to grip his throat.

The statement was met with another round of psychotic laughter before the child with terrifying strength started to choke the breath out of the man before it answered in a voice that was completely different to what he was used to hearing from the child, "_**A monster I may be, but at least I don't **_**fuck **_**little girls.**_"

Before the man could try to fight back the not-Lucy slammed his head against a stair before using all it's might to turn it completely backwards. The child stood and grinned as soon as she felt the body go limp. The eight year old pulled the body to the bottom of the stairwell before she heard the sounds of footprints near the door.

Janelle walked down the steps cautiously before clearing her throat and calling for her niece. " Lucy...Sweetie?"

The monster grinned before answering in honesty, "_**Lucy's not awake"**_

The now sixteen year old Lucy gasped and sat on the floor as the memory of that wretched night happened all at once. She looked to the bottom of the mirror, seeing only her reflection before staring in silence. As soon as the sun had risen, she spoke in a very traceable whisper. "You...you saved me." She tried to take in another deep breath before asking, "Why?" She could almost feel a hand cradling her face as she heard, "_**Because you needed me. Because you were so helpless. And most of all, because we are two minds shared in one body."**_

Lucy stood on shaking limbs before holding herself close. "This...this is too much to take in. I need time to think, about all of this."

"_**Of course you do, Sweetheart. Take all the time you need. In the meantime though, I want you to think about where we will go from here. I have a feeling that this town won't be safe for you for too much longer. Will you do that for me?"**_

Lucy could only nod silently before biting her lip. "I'll call you when I am ready to talk to you again, Leila." The girl could hear a soft purr in response before her thoughts became blissfully empty.


End file.
